Storage and transportation of liquid hydrocarbons, for example fuels, via road, rail and on the waterways present a considerable potential hazard. Thus, for example, the high flammability and explosiveness in mixtures with air has led in the past to serious accidents which have caused considerable damage. Serious ecological damage moreover is constantly arising due to fuels being discharged from leaking storage or transportation tanks.
It is already known that hydrocarbons can be converted into so-called hydrocarbon-rich gels. These are understood as meaning a system which consists of polyhedrons which are formed from surfactant and are filled with hydrocarbon, water forming a continuous phase in the narrow interstices between the polyhedrons (Angew. Chem. 100 933 (1988) and Ber. Bunsenges. Phys. Chem. 92 1158 (1988)).
Hydrocarbon-rich gels are distinguished by the occurrence of a yield value. This yield value is reached when the gel no longer withstands a stress imposed on it (shear, deformation) and starts to flow. Below the yield value, the gel structures have the properties of solids and obey Hooke's law. Above the yield value, in the ideal case, the system is equivalent to a Newtonian fluid. This means that although hydrocarbon-rich gels can be pumped in a simple manner, because of their properties as solids they cannot flow in the state of rest.
Provided that a process is available which allows the hydrocarbon to be recovered, hydrocarbon-rich gels are an outstanding form of storage and transportation. They cannot be discharged from defective storage or transportation tanks and danger to the environment is virtually excluded.
It has now been found, surprisingly, that the structure of hydrocarbon-rich gels which contain ionic surfactants can be broken down with the aid of laminar minerals and the hydrocarbon can be recovered.